Flutter of the Wings
by LoudAutomata16
Summary: After Lincoln causes an accident in Lisa's lab, his entire family is affected in a series of events that changes the entire household. Now Lincoln tries his best to adapt to this new world. (Cancelled)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: You know, there are a lot of fics based on episodes in this archive, but one episode that I haven't seen done before is one of my personal favorites: "The Butterfly Effect." I remember how I thought it would be pretty interesting to see a world where the events of the episode weren't just things that happened in Lincoln's head. Thus, this fic was born.**

 **Just one small difference; here, Lori and Clyde never hooked up. While that was funny for the episode, since I'm playing this for the long run, it would be a little uncomfortable and disturbing. She just broke up with Bobby and disowned Leni. That's it.**

 **I'd like to thank Omega Ultra for encouraging me to go for longer stories/chapters. And I'd like to thank Exotos135 and JamesSunderlandsPillow for giving me some idea of how to roll with this story.**

 **Hope you all enjoy.**

* * *

It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway across the world.

To put it in less poetic terms, the smallest of actions can have the greatest of consequences. The Loud family became familiarized with the butterfly effect on June 9, 2016, when the only son of the family, a young Lincoln Loud, accidently destroyed his sister's beakers with a stray yo-yo. Since that incident, his ditzy sister Leni had left to pursue science and academia, two of his sisters had become hardened criminals, and there was the small manner that the white-haired boy was currently in the clutches of his giant baby sister.

"DON'T EAT ME, LILY!" Lincoln shouted in pure fear, as the baby, supersized by the spilled chemicals, brought him closer and closer to her mouth, as if she were about to swallow him. The nervous boy closed his eyes shut, and prayed that she wouldn't chew…

"Lincoln… Lincoln… Lincoln, wake up…"

The boy's eyes shot wide open, though they later closed again from the intensity of the lights above him. He opened them more slowly and softly, rubbing his left eye as he sat up in his bed. He turned to the monotone voice that was urging him to wake up, and saw his younger sister Lucy standing by his bedside, shaking him to waking.

"L-Lucy, g'morning…" he said tiredly, before he let out a huge yawn, "Hey, Lucy, do you still have that book of dream interpretation?"

The Gothic girl nodded. "Why do you need your nightly visions deciphered?"

"Well, I saw a lot of weird stuff in my dream last night," Lincoln explained to her, "I mean, Lily was a giant, Luna got recruited by Mic Swagger, I think you were a vampire or something. Can you tell me what my dream meant?"

Lucy shook her head. "Sorry, I can't."

"Why not?"

"Sigh. Because this," Lucy said as she opened her mouth open for her brother, revealing her canines to have become elongated and sharper than they were before. Lincoln jumped back, startled by his sister's new vampire fangs, and the truth slowly dawned on him…

"That wasn't a dream. You… you really are a vampire," Lincoln said in a shocked and scared tone, pointing a shaking finger at his sister. Lucy nodded curtly, but then softened a little and gave her frightened brother a little half-smile, and cupped his hand to calm him down.

"It's okay, Lincoln. I don't bite," Lucy said somewhat jokingly, before slightly blushing and looking to the floor, "Except for earlier, when I was carrying you to your bed and… I got a little hungry."

It was then that Lincoln noticed a significant amount of pain and discomfort on one side of his neck. He motioned for a mirror, and Lucy gave him a small mirror, which he put in front of his neck, and confirmed Lucy's story. Four small holes in the side of his neck, though interestingly they didn't seem to be bleeding. Though, as Lincoln realized, that was probably due to the fact that Lucy had drunk the blood that escaped.

"So, everything that happened in my dream… Lori dumping Bobby…"

Lucy nodded.

"… Luan becoming a political activist…"

Again, Lucy nodded.

"… Lisa working at a gas station for _Flip_ of all people…"

Lucy nodded one last time, before she interrupted his listing with "It all happened Lincoln. You didn't dream a single thing," she said calmly. Lincoln sighed, "All because of my stupid yo-yo…" he muttered guiltily, in a voice too low for her to hear. The boy began to feel waves of guilt for causing all of this to happen to his sisters; they weren't the most normal family before, but they were happier and more stable. Now…

Now…

"Oh my God," Lincoln said as his eyes widened in horror. He quickly grabbed Lucy by her shoulders, and panickedly asked her, "Lucy, what happened to Lily? You didn't just leave her…"

"Of course not, dear brother," Lincoln heard a lispy voice say in his doorway. Lincoln looked away from the Goth girl and towards the door, where he saw his second youngest sister Lisa standing, wearing her gas station uniform and holding a small juice box in her hands.

"Lisa," Lincoln exhaled in a moment of calming, as he withdrew his tensed hands from Lucy's shoulders. "I'm so glad to see you. I bet you took care of Lily, right?"

Lisa nodded. "I felt a bit guilty for causing my beloved roommate trouble with her body mass with my inability to adhere to lab safety standards, so I cooked up a formula after Lucy removed you from her hands yesterday, in my final act before I give up science for good," the toddler explained.

"Give up science for good?" Lincoln repeated in confusion, before he remembered what happened between her and Leni. When the normally ditzy and slow sister sustained a blow to the head, she received an impressive boost to her IQ. After she solved a complicated formula that Lisa had made a mistake with, the younger girl had abandoned science for good, and gone to work at Flip's Food and Fuel. Lincoln grunted with anger; only Flip would hire a toddler to work for him.

"Yes. I have opted to leave the study of the natural world to those more equipped for it. Like," the girl hissed before she spat out the name of her older sibling, "Leni. I'm off to my job later, and I just came by to ask you for some help."

"Help with what?"

The young girl smiled embarassedly as she walked over to Lincoln and handed him the apple juice box. "Could you… you know…"

Lincoln sighed, but put on a small smile. After the insane day he had, even by his standards, it was nice to have something small and normal to deal with. "Sure thing, Lisa," he said as he grabbed the small juice box and stabbed the straw into it. To his surprise, it didn't penetrate. "What the…" he muttered as he stabbed the juice box over and over, before he finally examined the straw itself.

"Great. The straw isn't even sharp," Lincoln said in annoyance, before turning back to Lucy, "Hey, Lucy, open up."

The vampire opened her mouth and Lincoln jabbed the juice box on her sharp fang, finally opening it up. He stuck the straw inside the hole his sister made, and handed it back to Lisa. "Thanks, Luce."

"And thank you, elder fraternal unit. Well, I will be making my way to the exit, and to the rest of my life as a gas station worker," Lisa said. She tried to maintain a little smile, but as she turned away from her siblings, she felt that smile quickly wipe off her face.

 _I'll get used to it. Eventually._

* * *

"Good morning, bro," Luna greeted from her seat on the couch, as Lincoln (and bat-Lucy, who was perched on his shoulder) descended down the stairs to the living room. Lincoln greeted her back with a small wave and a smile, and looked around the lower floor of his house. His home was a lot more… empty than it usually was. He knew Lisa was at her new job, Lily was most likely asleep in her crib as she was now back to normal, and Leni was off at Harvard disproving quarks or some other scientific fact. But it still seemed like no one else was around, something that saddened the young boy. He had always wished for peace and quiet in his home, but now that he got it…

It seemed like Luna noticed the forlorn and confused look on her brother's face, as she sighed softly before calling out "LANA!" Lincoln heard a disturbance in the other room, and watched as his younger sister Lana rolled in from the kitchen, still inside her giant hamster ball.

"Hey Lincoln," Lana said as she waved from inside her safety bubble, "Glad to see you're okay, after what happened with you and Lily."

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm just glad Lucy helped me out. Even if she did bite me on the way back up," he said angrily as he shot a glare at the bat sitting on his shoulder. Lucy attempted a little shrug with her wings, but it looked less like a gesture of 'oh well' and more like she was about to keel over and die.

"I still can't believe the little spooky dudette's now got a vampire heart," Luna remarked as she scooped up a few remaining pieces of her cereal with her spoon. Lincoln looked at her with shock. "Wait… you guys know about Lucy?"

"Yeah, that she's a vampire because one of the bats got sprayed with chemicals and bit her… Of course we know," Luna remarked in a very "matter of fact" way.

"I'll be honest, I thought she was always a vampire," Lana admitted with a shrug. Lincoln could only assume that the noise coming from his shoulder was a weird bat form of giggling.

"Well… you all seem to be taking it very well…"

Luna grinned slightly. "Lincoln, we've seen Leni glow up like Christmas lights and a sentient monster of sludge. Is it really that hard to think our little Luce became a vamp? Besides, you know what they say; vampires will never hurt you," Luna said, her grin widening at her music reference.

Unfortunately for her, her brother did not seem to register it; "So, is Lana the only one here?"

Luna nodded her head. "Don't worry, everyone'll be back later today. Except for, well, Lynn and…"

"… Lola," Lana finished sadly. She sighed deeply inside her bubble, and sat down on the floor of it. It was clear to everyone that she missed her dear twin sister. Lincoln looked at the young repair girl with sympathy, and approached her airtight bubble. He got on his knees so he could talk to the girl at her eye level, and tapped the glass slightly, so she would look up at him.

"Listen, Lana, Lola's going to be okay. She and Lynn just had… an off day. I'm sure they'll be back to us in no time," Lincoln said with a reassuring smile.

 _Huh, that means no arm punches for a while. Cool._

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks Lincoln," Lana said with a smile.

"If you really wanted to thank me, you'd come out of that bubble and give me a hug," Lincoln offered as he extended his arms for an embrace. However, Lincoln was shocked when he saw actual fear go through Lana's eyes, as she jumped back in her bubble, rolling it slightly over, her tumbling a bit inside.

"N-no thanks, Lincoln. I… I think I'm fine in here. Really," she said with an uneasy smile, and before her brother could say anything the young tomboy had began rolling away from him in a panicked hurry.

"You shouldn't rush her out of her safe place, little dude," Lincoln heard Luna say behind him. He sighed audibly and turned to her, as she eyed him with pity, "After what happened to Lols, can you really blame her for being worried?"

"No, no, I can't blame her," Lincoln said sadly, almost to himself more than to Luna, "I can blame myself though, for causing all of this. I messed up, and now everyone else has to pay the price…" he stopped when he felt the bat on his shoulder nuzzling his cheek, as if trying to comfort him. He smiled slightly at Lucy, and petted her gently. "I just wish there was someone to turn to right now, who could help me out…"

Luna shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry, Linc. After the Popstar saw that vid of me trashing the hotel, he's grounded me for a while. But, you know, if you need someone who can get everything back in working order again…" Luna trailed off, hoping he would get it.

Lincoln scratched his head in confusion, wondering what she was implying... before snapping his fingers as the answer came to him. "Of course, Lori. If anyone can help me with all of this, it's her," Lincoln said excitedly. He grabbed the bat sitting on his shoulder and tossed her over to his rocker sister, and she carefully caught Lucy in her hands. "Thanks Luna. I'm going to go get Lori. Where is she right now?"

"I think she'd be at the mall right now. Though I should warn you; she just might be in a bad, bad mood," Luna cautioned him. Lincoln nodded and ran out the front door. "Bye Luna, bye Lucy."

"Bye, Lincoln," said Lucy as she shifted back to her human form in a cloud of smoke. She looked up at her older sister, who grinned nervously at her and asked; "Soooo… wanna watch remixes of my hotel freakout online?"

"That sounds like fun," Lucy admitted, as the two of them opened up YouView and found a playlist dedicated to exactly that ("Can't believe there's that many of them already").

* * *

When Lincoln arrived at the Royal Woods Mall, he had a few places in mind to look for his eldest sister. He recalled every place that she would frequent when she would bring him with her to the mall, and so, like any good man with a plan would, he had mapped out every possible place to find her based on her current emotional status.

"Well, I know she's angry with Bobby and Leni, but by now that anger should have cooled down into sadness. So if I'm correct, then…"

Lincoln made his way to the food court, and rushed past several burger joints, pizza places and sushi bars to find exactly what he was looking for; the ice cream parlor.

"Hi," he said as he approached the young man standing at at the cash register, "Have you seen my older sister? She's about seventeen years old, has blonde hair, wears blue…"

"Oh, you mean the crying girl who keeps ordering the rocky road ice cream and threatens me with bodily harm if I stop serving them to her," the teen said in a cracking voice, as he pointed to the far corner of the food court, "She's over there, crying about a bear or something."

Lincoln looked to where he was pointing and grimaced as he saw that it was indeed the eldest daughter of the Loud family, weeping openly as she played around with her brown ice cream with her spoon, only scooping it up and eating it after she wiped her eyes. "Oh, Boo Boo Bear…" she cried out like a banshee as she started another round of crying, putting her face to the table and wrapping her arms around her head.

"God, it's been like this for a while now. Seriously, doesn't she have better things to do?"

"Hey, don't talk about my sister like that," Lincoln snapped back defensively, even though he completely agreed with the young man. He walked away from the ice cream place and over to his sister, wandering past rows and rows of empty white tables and chairs.

 _How long has she even been here? You'd think she'd try to find someone else by now… Hell, maybe she'd even go for Clyde now,_ Lincoln joked to himself, grinning slightly as he did. However, as he finally approached Lori, he let that grin slide off his face, and replaced it with a look of concern and care for his sister.

As much as he and everyone else at the Loud House liked to joke about Lori's obsession with her Bobby Boo Boo Bear, he still knew that her boyfriend was very important to her, and he felt pangs of brotherly affection for her as he saw her in her unhappy state.

"H-hey Lori. It's me, Lincoln," Lincoln said softly as he tapped his sister's arm. Lori looked up from the table, eyeliner dripping down her face, and she responded with "What are you doing here, twerp?"

 _Just ignore that. She's having a hard time._

"Um, Lori, I know you're… sad and all," Lincoln said as he looked at the pile of spoons and ice cream cups that were scattered around his sister, "But we kinda have things going on back home. Like, really big problems. Lana's become scared of getting hurt, Lucy's a vampire now, Lynn and Lola are on the lam…"

"Lincoln, do you really think that a story that stupid is going to get me to budge? At least come up with something believable," Lori spat at him, "Lana wrestles with alligators, Lola would never do anything to hurt her reputation, and oh yeah, vampires aren't real."

"Well, it's not the supernatural creature, it's more of Lisa's chemicals and some loose bats… Wait, what about Lynn becoming a criminal?"

Lori sniffled and shrugged. "That's the one I can believe."

"Of course it is," Lincoln said as he rolled his eyes, "Look, Lori, we still need you at home…"

"No you don't. Who needs me when you have your precious Leni? Leni, who's younger and prettier and… and… has a bigger chest size than me…" Lori admitted shamefully before shoving another spoonful of chocolate ice cream in her mouth.

"Thanks for the mental images," Lincoln said with annoyance, "But Leni is also gone. She went off to Harvard or something…"

"Of course she went off to Harvard. All I can manage is a small college in the city. I guess I'm literally not good enough for them. Just like I'm literally not good enough for my Boo Boo Bear…" she ended with another sniffle.

"Well, technically, you don't know if he cheated on you…" Lincoln started, but immediately stopped when he saw the dangerous look that Lori flashed him in her eyes.

"What are you saying, Lincoln?" she hissed at him, any sign that she had just been crying completely gone from her voice.

"Well, um, haha," Lincoln stammered nervously as he backed away, tugging at his collar as he did, "I'm just saying that… all you did was find a gift from Bobby on Leni's side of the closet. And, well, you jumped to some," he gulped, "big conclusions."

At this point Lori had completely stopped sobbing, which was good for the man at the ice cream place, who took the opportunity to jump over the counter and run off like a coward. It was not good for Lincoln, whose older sister was now staring daggers at him, towering over him. "Lincoln… are you saying that Bobby and Leni… never betrayed me? Are you saying that I was… _wrong_?" she asked.

He swallowed again, feeling his knees shaking, as he choked out a feeble "Y-yes."

Lori seemed to think about it for a second, and Lincoln slightly eased up, expecting her to realize how irrational she was being. A look of annoyance washed over her face, but then, much to Lincoln's surprise and relief, her facial expression softened, and she looked down to her little brother with a bit of a sheepish smile.

"I guess… Maybe I should've talked to Leni and Bobby before I assumed anything," she admitted, "Actually, I'll talk to Leni right now, and let her explain herself. Is she back at home?"

"No, it's like I said, she went off to start inventing things…"

Lori's eyes narrowed at him. "Wait, you were being serious? Leni… is literally at Harvard? That's literally weirder than the vampire stuff (assuming that's also true). What, did Lisa give her some sort of brain boost?"

"Um, no, actually. In fact, Lisa was so confused by Leni's new brainpower that she quit science for good, and went to work for Flip…"

"Wait, Lisa… went off to work for Flip?' Lori repeated in confusion.

"Yeah, she wanted to…"

"HOW COULD YOU LET THAT HAPPEN?!" Lori screamed angrily at him, "YOU LET A FOUR YEAR OLD GIRL WORK AT A GAS STATION, FOR _FLIP_ OF ALL PEOPLE! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE RESPONSIBLE ONE!"

"D-don't blame me," Lincoln tried to defend himself, "I had my own things going on. I almost got eaten by Lily yesterday."

Lori just sighed angrily, and rubbed her forehead in thought. "Where are Mom and Dad in all of this?"

"Well, this is still Season 1. They don't really do much now."

Lori eyed him with confusion, causing the snow-haired boy to sigh. "It's something only I get. Isn't that right?" he said despondently as he turned to the reader.

"Ok, I literally don't have time for your usual sci-fi crazy talk, Lincoln. Come on," she said as she grabbed his arm and started walking towards the escalator, "We're going to see Flip."

* * *

Lisa did not know what was worse; the fact that she was filling up cars for the momentary gain of a cruel greedy idiot, or the fact that she filling up cars with juice because of Leni's invention. Maybe that was what bothered her the most; the fact that Leni made a huge societal change in such a short time of being a genius. She had been building robots since she developed fine motor skills; she should have been the one who invented a new car. Still, Lisa was relieved when most of the cars that came by were still using fossil fuels, as Leni's new invention had yet to break into the general market. Still, one day that would change...

As Lisa sat there, waiting for another vehicle to appear, she noticed one coming up from the road. She sighed slightly and got up off the curb, ready to serve another customer. But then she squinted slightly at the vehicle in question. It looked... familiar...

 _Hm. That looks a lot like Vanzilla..._

The large van stopped before the small girl, and she watched her eldest sister and only brother exit from Vanzilla. As soon as Lori saw her, she sighed of relief, and scooped up her toddler sister in a hug, whispering in her ear "I'm literally so sorry, Lisa. I should've stopped this sooner."

"Hey, hey, Lincoln's sister, put down Lincoln's sister and let her get back to work," said Flip as he walked out of his mini-mart. Lori's eyes flashed with anger as she put Lisa down next to Lincoln, patting her head a little before rushing over to Flip, angrily yelling "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? FORCING A CHILD TO WORK AT A GAS STATION. SHE COULD'VE BEEN HURT OR GOTTEN SICK!" Even Flip, normally abrasive and unapologetic, seemed to jump back from Lori's anger, but quickly started shouting back "WELL, LINCOLN'S SISTER CAME TO ME FOR WORK, AND I'M NOT ONE TO DENY THE YOUTH JOB OPPORTUNITIES!"

"WELL, SHE QUITS. SHE'S COMING HOME WITH ME RIGHT NOW!"

"SHE CAN'T QUIT! WE HAVE A CONTRACT!"

As the two bickered and argued back and forth, Lisa turned to her brother Lincoln, and asked him "Why did you bring Lori, Lincoln? I told you, this is all I have after I gave up science."

"Lisa, it doesn't have to be like that. Just because Leni got a little smarter doesn't mean you have to give up what you love. I know that you like working with test tubes more than gas pumps."

Lisa sighed slightly, and sat back down on the ground, inviting Lincoln to do the same himself. "It's not just Leni. It's just that... well, everything that's happened recently with our family... I realized that it was all my fault."

"W-what do you mean?"

"I mean that the hole in Lori and Leni's closet... Lynn failing her classes and getting kicked off her teams... Lucy becoming a supernatural being... Lily turning into a giant... and everything else that happened to our siblings... it's all my fault, for not being caring of my chemicals. My science does no one any good."

"That's not true. What about what you did for Lily earlier?" Lincoln protested.

"One example of benefit does not make up for nine examples of harm. I made a mistake, and I need to take responsibility for that. So if you'll excuse me, I need to convince our eldest sibling unit that I'm fine with my job here," Lisa said as she stood up and turned to walk over to Lori.

 _Take responsibility for that._

Those four words caused Lincoln a strong feeling of guilt. So it wasn't Leni that caused her to give up science, it was him. It was all him. Lori breaking up with Bobby, Leni leaving her family, Lisa working for Flip, Lynn getting kicked off the soccer team, Lola getting injured, Lana getting scared of being hurt, Luna embarrassing herself before the world, Luan giving up comedy, Lucy becoming a vampire, Lily getting super-sized... it was all him. And now one of the few people who could help him get things back to normal had falsely blamed herself for everything. Lincoln swallowed heavily, knowing what he had to do.

"Wait, Lisa, hold on," he said, grabbing her by the shoulder to stop her. The young girl turned to him with curiosity in her eyes, and Lincoln sighed heavily, before confessing the truth, "It wasn't your fault that all of this happened. It's... it's my fault. I broke your experiment with a yo-yo trick, and I didn't tell you, and then... all this happened."

"But... but why wouldn't you tell me?" Lisa asked him, "You're usually the more responsible one."

"I... I thought you would hate me for ruining your work," Lincoln admitted, looking to the ground in shame, "So I decided to keep it to myself."

"Oh, Lincoln," Lisa said softly before she smiled softly at him, "Lincoln, I'd never hate you for ruining one of my experiments. And, truth be told..." she said as her smile turned more humorous, "That whole set-up was meant to be destroyed. That was the experiment."

"Wait, what? You mean I could have just stopped all of this from happening if I just told you?" Lincoln asked. Lisa nodded her head, and the young boy sighed audibly, "Dang it."

"Wait a minute... if I didn't mess up, then... that means I can go back to science. YES! Thank you, elder sibling," Lisa cheered as she wrapped her arms around Lincoln in an embrace. Lincoln wrapped his arms around her as well, returning the hug. "No problem, Lisa. Thanks for not hating me."

Lisa beamed at him before turning her attention back to Lori and Flip, who were still in a screaming fight with each other. "BOTH OF YOU, LISTEN UP!" she yelled at them, causing them to stop and turn to her. Lisa walked past them, into the store, and came out a few minutes later with several bars of chocolate in her hand. "Consider this my severance package, you Neanderthal, because I quit," she said triumphantly, Lori and Lincoln cheering her on in the background. And as Lori, Lisa and Flip huddled up back into their argument, Lincoln smiled and turned to the reader.

"Well, I've always said that living in a large family is tough. And now that some of my sisters are activists, criminals and vampires, things might get a little tougher. But... at least I know that I can do my best to get things back to normal. I just need a little help from my sisters, and know that they are always on our family's side," he finished as he turned back to watch Lisa turn the ice box into a laser-shooting robot to chase Flip across the lot.

* * *

 **Well, that was something. I know this was a bit all over the place, but I had fun writing it. I have a vague idea of how each sister is going to have her own little story arc, each of them intersecting with the other's, and I'll admit right now some sisters' story arcs will be more important than others, based on how different they've ended up after the chemical spilling incident. Luna is pretty much the same as before, so hers won't be as significant as sisters like Leni or Lana, whose entire personalities have changed.**

 **Side note, first time I broke 5k. And all in one day, too. Sweet.**

 **Thanks for reading. Next chapter is going to focus on two sisters coming home…**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Well, I got some interesting responses for the last chapter. And my interest in exploring the more surreal and out there Butterfly-Effect world has only increased. I mean, come on, there's a vampire that gets treated like a normal fact of life. How can I not love that?**

 **As for whether Lincoln is going to try and fix things or just coexist, I think I'll aim for a mix of both, for now.**

 **Anyways, let's get on with the new chapter, revolving around a certain pageant diva...**

* * *

Another morning at the Loud House. Up on the second floor of the building, past all of his sister's rooms, a young Lincoln Loud lay asleep in his bed, until his circadian rhythm final decided it was time for him to awaken. Lincoln arose from his bed slowly, cracking and popping joints, and stretching out his legs. He rubbed his eyes as he tried to recall everything that had happened yesterday.

He remembered how he and Lori had drove down to Flip's in Vanzilla, and how Lori had gotten into a screaming fest with the greedy gas station manager. He chuckled slightly when he recalled how red her face was. But then he smiled softly when he recalled his talk with Lisa; he was glad that she no longer blamed herself, and even gladder that she didn't blame him. Still, events had effects…

Lincoln opened the door to his room and into the hallway, and paused, doing some last minute stretches, before dashing into the hallway to the bathroom, expecting his sisters to be competing to get there before he did, but he slowed as he noticed that, aside from Lana and Luan, no one was in the hall. He finally stopped running, as he remembered that Leni, Lynn and Lola were gone, and that some of his other sisters had other things going on.

"Hey Lana, hey Luan," Lincoln greeted his two sisters in line, "Who's in the bathroom?"

"Hey Lincoln. Our dear sister Lori is in there, applying her makeup," Luan said with a sigh, "It's a shame that we still support the cosmetics industry. Do you know how many mice and rodents they've used and abused to test their products?"

"I don't know. Are you going to _rat_ them out to me?" Lincoln punned, hoping she would appreciate it.

She didn't. "Lincoln, I told you, I'm done with comedy. It's time I focused on the real world, on things that actually matter."

"I mean, you can…" Lincoln said uneasily, "But that doesn't mean you have to give up _everything_ , especially the things you love."

Luan just shrugged and turned away from the boy, letting Lincoln know that he wasn't going to get through to her. He sighed despondently at that fact. And just as he did, Lori exited the restroom and walked out into the hallway. "Took you long enough," said Lana as she rushed past her and closed the door.

"How is she even going to… Never mind, I don't want to know," Lori said with a shudder. She looked back and saw Lincoln, and pointed at him. "Hey twerp, you up for a little fun drive?" she asked. Lincoln looked at her with confusion. "Um, sure, where are we going?"

Lori smiled coyly. "We're going to see some convicts and their parents."

* * *

"It's your fault for stopping for a bathroom break," Lola said angrily to her jail mate and older sister Lynn. The two of them had been on a successful crime spree together, robbing anyone and anything misfortunate enough to get in their way. Unfortunately for them, they had been caught by the local authorities and locked up with the key thrown away. Well, the key was thrown away until their family had shown up for them.

"Nuh uh. It's your fault for having a slow car," Lynn shot back.

"Well, maybe I should rename it Lynn's brain."

"Heh," Lincoln laughed weakly as he sat between the two girls on their drive home. Their parents had arrived by taxi the night before to get things cleared up, and Lori and Lincoln had shown up with Vanzilla to pick them all up. Right now, his father was driving, with his mother and Lori sitting in the row behind him, and Lincoln was sitting unfortunately between Lynn and Lola, as the two stated each other down, almost as if they were going to fight.

"Lynn, Lola, quiet down, now," their mother ordered in a stern voice, causing both of them to tense up and turn away from each other. Lincoln found this odd, but he could only assume that his mother had unleashed some of her wrath upon the two before they arrived, and Lynn and Lola were not ready for a do-over.

"Yes mom," Lynn muttered quietly, before she looked to her brother. "So, Linc, you miss me?" she asked teasingly.

"Yeah Lynn, I missed the arm punches and snark you brought into my life," Lincoln responded sarcastically, but the truth was that he more than missed Lynn and Lola. He was… terrified, that the two of them would be locked up, and he would never see either of them again. It appeared that some of his fear had manifested themselves onto his face, as Lynn quickly said "Hey, Lincoln, me and Lols are fine. They weren't going to take us away. No need to worry about your big sis," Lynn said as she flexed slightly, "The cops have their guns, but I can fight them off with mine."

This caused Lincoln to laugh. "I guess so. But… what about that?" he asked as he pointed at her ankle. Lynn looked down to see what he was pointing at, and grimaced when she saw what it was.

Her ankle monitor.

"D-don't worry about it. I just have to come home earlier than usual. That's all. Of course, that does mean no more nightly jogs," Lynn said despondently.

"Well, you'll just have to run around the block during the daytime, Junior. You'll have a lot of time for that, seeing how you've been kicked off all of your teams," her father said from the front. Lynn gasped and shot forward in her seat. 'W-what do you mean?" she asked.

"Sorry, honey, but they won't allow a hardened criminal to be on the teams, no matter how good you are," Lynn Sr. responded, "Same thing goes for you Lola. No more pageantry for a long while."

"Wh-what? NO!" the young girl screamed, forcing everyone in the car to cover their ears, "That's not fair. I worked so hard to get where I am now. Just because of one mistake…"

Lincoln sighed to himself.

 _This is going to be a long drive._

* * *

"… after all the turnout I brought for them, this is how they repay me. FINE! Let's see if someone else can bring out the crowd for them. Let's see how successful their pageants are without Lola Loud. Just Lindsey and (ugh) Gretchen prancing around the stage…"

"Well, we're here," announced Lynn Sr. from the front of the vehicle, cutting through Lola's ranting and raving. Lincoln sighed of relief when he saw his house coming up on the road, and felt Lynn do the same next to him. Lynn Sr. drove up to the driveway, and put Vanzilla in park, before turning around to the rest of his family; "Lori, can you take your brother and sisters inside for me? Your mother and I need to go pick up Luna across town."

"Where is Luna?" Lori asked him.

"She's with her friend Sam. For some reason, she's been bragging to everyone about what happened with her and Mic Swagger," Rita answered, "Even though we explicitly told her to keep it on the down-low."

"Well, she just proud that ole' Mic picked 'er up, tha's all," Lynn Sr. said, slipping into his faux-British accent, "Why, if I were picke' up by a musician for our mutual Anglo spirit…"

"Alright, you three, come with me," Lori ordered, not willing to sit there for more of her father's uncomfortably bad inflections. She swung the door open, and let Lincoln, Lynn and Lola exit Vanzilla, before closing it shut, sealing her father's attempts at an English tongue inside. As the van started to slowly back out of the driveway, the four heard a call coming from the yard;

"LOLA! LYNN!" came an excited voice. The two of them looked over and saw Lana, with a wide smile on her face, rushing over to her sisters. Lynn beamed widely in return and, as soon as Lana got close enough, wrapped her arms around the girl's bubble and hugged it tightly, "Hey, Lans. How's my partner in crime doing?"

"I thought Lola was your partner in crime," muttered Lori, rolling her eyes.

"Well, she's my metaphorical partner in crime. We chase after delivery guys on all fours sometimes," Lynn admitted as she put the tomboyish twin down. Lana rolled over to her twin sister and looked to her expectantly, "Hey Lola. Boy, I missed you."

"Why? It's only been two days," Lola said coldly. Lana looked confused by what she said, as the look on her face went from thrilled and happy to confused and worried. "Well, yeah, but I was really worried about you two…"

"Well, you shouldn't have been. As you can see, I'm fine, and I'm glad to be back. Also, your bubble looks stupid…" Lola said with cold fury as she marched her way back inside her home, leaving poor Lana confused about what had happened. She looked back to her other siblings and pointed back at the house; "D-did I do something wrong?" she asked hesitantly.

Lincoln smiled weakly at her. "It's not you, Lana. She's been, well… barred from pageantry and…"

"Oh. You don't need to tell me more, Lincoln. I get it," Lana said with a small sigh, "Poor Lola. She practically lives for her beauty pageants."

A moment of uncomfortable silence hung over them, as Lincoln and Lori stood there, attempting to formulate something to say to reassure their younger sister. Of course Lynn, never the observant one, was the next to speak;

"Hey, am I missing something? Why is Lana in a bubble now?"

Lincoln chuckled slightly and gave her an amused look. "If you think that's weird, wait till you hear about Lucy and Lily…"

* * *

 _It's not fair._

The one thought that went through Lola's head as she closed the door to her room behind her and jumped on her bed, covering her face with her precious pink pillow. She didn't feel like she was about to cry, she highly doubted she would, but there was a great sense of… shame, she assumed. Like for once, she didn't want to be seen.

She curled and uncurled her toes on her mattress, and ground her teeth. It really wasn't fair. She wasn't a pageant princess… she was the QUEEN of pageantry, and now she would be denied her life goal… for what? A little girl's day out with Lynn? Yeah, they robbed things, but that was Flip. He deserved it. Lola gave a mean little giggle at that thought.

 _I bet Lindsey had something to do with me getting banned. Now with me out of the way, I bet she can walk all over the rest of her worthless competition. I would have destroyed her in the upcoming…_

…

 _Would I have, though?_

Lola blinked in surprise; that was a weird thought. What was that; doubt?

 _O-of course I would have. Why would I think otherwise…_

 _Lola… look at yourself. In the mirror._

 _Gladly._

The young blonde pulled out her small pocket mirror, always happy to see her reflection. However, this time, she saw something less desirable.

Her descent into madness had been caused by a random projectile (Lola didn't see what it was or who threw it, but she would make them pay if she found out) that had caused her nose to swell, as well as other injuries. And even though some of the swelling had gone down… there were still places on her once perfect face that were swelling. And aside from those, there were bruises and bumps and even little cuts. Lola looked at herself from every angle, trying to find her good side, and her eyes widened in horror as she realized that every part of her face was… marred.

"Oh no," she said softly, in a scared tone, "I-I…"

Then her face reddened in anger, and her eyes flashed. "I LOOK HIDEOUS!" she screamed as she threw her mirror against the wall, shattering it into hundreds of tiny glass shards. The girl let out a final cry of anger, before covering her face with her pillow again. Now she really, really, _really,_ did not want anyone to see her…

"Um, Lola?"

The girl lifted her face off her pillow enough for her eyes to appear, and she looked towards the doorway, and say her sister Lana standing there, still inside her bubble, but more nervous and apprehensive to approach her. She stood with her knees buckled and her eyes wide as she looked at her twin with pure worry and concern.

Lola sighed into her pillow… she shouldn't treat her twin that way. "Come in, Lana. It's your room too," she said as she set the cushion down by her side. Lana smiled warmly, and rolled her way to Lola's bedside, making small creaking noises on the floor as she did.

"Hey Lola. I can't, you know, welcome you back with a hug, but…" Lana trailed off as she put her hand on the sphere she was inside. Lola eyed it with confusion, before she realized what Lana was doing; imitating that movie they saw recently.

She smiled slightly. "So you're the rough and dirty Tarzan and I'm elegant and wonderful Jane, huh?" she said as she put her hand on the bubble, perfecting in line with her twin's.

"Well, no more dirt for me. I could get sick. And no more roughness as well. I could get really hurt."

"You mean like me, right?"

"Wha, no, I mean…" Lana fumbled for words, before she gave up with a sigh, "Yeah, like you."

"It's okay, Lana dear. I don't… I don't blame you for not wanting to end up like I did. I mean, look at me," Lola said as she pointed towards her face.

"Well… it's not as bad as before. Honestly, Lola, you like fine," the older twin tried to compliment.

"Lana, let me tell you something about pageantry," Lola started, "I need to look _perfect_ to compete with the other girls. As much as I hate to say it, they look great. You saw them. Remember, from that time we danced together for the judges?"

"Yeah. That was fun," Lana said wistfully, "But still, Lola, you really look fine…"

"No, no I don't, Lana. Please, can we not talk about it? My career is basically ruined, and I'd like to think about something else."

Lana considered it. She noticed her sister was a lot more sad than usual. Normally, the girl would be screaming and throwing fits about her disqualification from what was essentially her whole life. But she wasn't; there was an emotional deadness to her. Like she was just… sad. Just sad. No anger, no hatred, no spite. Just sadness.

And that made Lana sad herself. Still, she didn't press on the issue, and decided it would be best to give her twin some room to dwell on something else.

"Alright, Lola. Whatever you want. So, did you hear that Lucy became a real vampire?" Lana offered with a sheepish smile.

Lola looked confused. "I thought she was always a vampire…"

* * *

"Oh, I should've been there. It would've been nice to stick to the popo…"

"Great job, Lynn. Now you're encouraging your younger sister to become a criminal."

"Don't blame me. Lisa's always been like that."

While Lola and Lana were upstairs having their intimate talk, Lori, Luan, Lynn, Lincoln, Lucy, Lisa and Lily were downstairs, as a way to welcome their sister's home. Lincoln had expected Lucy to be excited for her roommate to come back home (and she was, even if she couldn't show it well) but Lucy's enthusiasm was nowhere near the level of awe that young anti-authority Lisa Loud was in, as she was completely fascinated with her sister's experiences. Not that Lynn minded, of course, as she sat there with an amused grin as Lisa went on and on…

"But seriously, Lynn, it's good to have you back," Luan interjected, "I was almost ready to gather some of the protesters to go down there and demand your release."

"Oh, didn't know you were into _Daily Show_ stunts now," Lynn joked as she nudged Lincoln with her elbow, as a 'geddit' gesture. He smacked himself on the forehead; he forgot to tell her about Luan…

"What do you mean?" Luan asked in genuine bewilderment. Lynn's grin slided off her face as she looked just as bewildered, "Uh, you know. That whole comedy-and-politics thing…"

"Oh, did no one tell you? I've given up comedy," Luan told her sister.

"Wh-what? Oh… oh I get it. This is like a prank, right?"

Luan shook her head. "I'm done with pranks, as well as jokes, pranks, shows and magic tricks. Now, I'm dedicating myself to the fight against the enemies of the forest and the rivers. Speaking of which, did you know that there are some factories dumping chemicals in the streams…"

"Ok, hold on," Lynn said as she waved her hands in the air, "Luan… you don't like comedy anymore? And Lana is scared of getting hurt? What else has changed around here?"

"Well, Lily became a giant, and your roommate is now a vampire," Lisa stated bluntly. Lynn looked at Lucy, and the young dark-haired girl grinned shyly, showing off her vampiric fangs.

"I thought it was weird when you kissed me on the neck," Lynn muttered to her, "Well, guess I'm just putting garlic in my subs from now on."

"That's not going to help you," Lucy stated in her usual deadpan, causing Lynn to slightly panic and look at her brother, "Hey, Lincoln, remember how great it was when we bunked together? I was wondering…"

"NO!" Lincoln shouted, before coughing and adding "I'm sure Lucy is just joking, Lynn. She won't take any blood from you without asking."

Lynn rubbed her chin slightly in thought, and looked back at Lucy. "Well… since you have to… I guess I could give my roommate a little…"

"Wow, you're taking this surprisingly well," said Lori.

Lynn shrugged. "I'll be honest… I always thought she was a vampire."

There was a small beat of silence, before Lucy gave a little laugh. This was followed by Lily, who started clapping and laughing in Lori's arms, causing her to start laughing as well. Eventually, Lincoln, Lynn, Lisa and even the now anti-comedy Luan joined in, as they all laughed in amusement at the sheer absurdity of everything.

"Damn, our lives have never been normal, have they?" Lynn said, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Still, I wouldn't trade it for the world," Lincoln responded to her with a smile, encouraging Lynn to lovingly give him a noogie.

Lori watched them, and decided to give her a second before she told her to knock it off. She smiled to herself; looks like things weren't going to change too much after all.

 _Except now Leni's gone._

Lori sighed silently to herself. She missed her roommate. Out of all the siblings in the house, Leni was the one she had the easiest time with. They had a lot of the same interests and their joint place and 'the oldest' really made her leaving hard on Lori.

 _And it's all my fault, too…_

"Poo poo?"

Lori looked down, and saw Lily staring at her with a little bit of worry. Lori gave the baby a small but emotional smile. "It's okay, Lily. You're oldest sister is just being a bit of a poo poo head," she whispered softly to Lily, before giving her a kiss on the forehead. The baby seemed satisfied with this, as her face alit with a big smile, which warmed Lori's heart even more.

Then, the kids all heard a door closing upstairs, and the small rolling of what sounded like a large ball down the stairs, as Lana rolled into the living room, her face more despondent than before.

"Hey, everyone, I think there's something wrong with Lola," she announced.

"Of course there is. She willingly spend time with our jock sister," Lincoln said as he tried to pull himself from the clutches of his sporty sister.

"No, I mean… she's gotten really down on herself. She… she thinks that she's ugly and worthless, because of the hits she got on her face."

"Oh…" Lynn said as she let go of her brother, and looked down to the ground in guilt, "You mean, from when I hit her in the face with my ball?"

"Yeah. You're really lucky she doesn't know it was you."

Lynn gulped, and then laughed nervously. "Ha-ha. Don't… don't I know it… Still, I feel kinda bad for doing that to her. I mean, we really bonded when we were robbing people and driving away from the pigs."

"I'd bond with anyone if I get a chance to show the man what's up," Lisa said before flashing a gang symbol, causing Lincoln to slightly chuckle.

"Well, maybe we can think of something to make her feel better. We shouldn't just leave her to mope in her room," Lincoln said.

"Agreed," said Lori, "So what's the plan, Lincoln?"

"Wait… why me?"

"Because you are the male homo sapien with the stratagem AKA the man with the plan," Lisa said. Lincoln noticed all of his sisters looking at him, and realized that it was up to him to come up with something. He sat there on the couch, scratching his head as he racked his brain for some sort of solution to his sister's problem, until he finally snapped his fingers as he got an idea.

"Ladies, I think I got an idea. But we're going to need to do a bit of work on it. Are you all willing to put some time and effort into this?"

All of his sisters nodded, causing Lincoln to smirk. "Alright then. Operation 'Show-Lola-She-Isn't-A-Horribly-Ugly-Monster-Whose-Pageant-Career-Is-Behind-Her-And-Come-Up-With-A-Shorter-Name-For-This-Operation' is a go."

* * *

 **I was wondering about going on from there, but I feel like this chapter dragged on enough as is, plus I got things to do IRL. Next time, we'll pick up where we left off; the sibling's plan to help Lola out. And maybe we'll get some scenes with genius Leni. I don't know, I'm wondering how early I should incorporate her into all this.**

 **And of course, thanks for reading.**


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